Topical items and views on the impact of digitisation on publishing and its content and the issues that make the news. This blog follows the report 'Brave New World',
(http://www.ewidgetsonline.com/vcil/bravenewworld.html ), published by the Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland and authored by Martyn Daniels. The views and comments expressed are those of the author.

Thursday, March 07, 2013

A Netfix For Children's Books?

Netflix
for Children’s books sounds interesting but hasn’t Amazon already put a stake
in the ground with their ‘FreeTime’ start-up service?

US
start-up Sproutkin, is a new US subscription service for books for
children aged between 0 and 3 and 3 and 6. Like a book club it is based regular
shipments of up to ten new books to its older members and some two to four
books for its younger members. All members pay a monthly subscription of $24.99.
It also works with a small educational advisory board to select its books to
ensure their selections are relevant and quality. It aims to create many ‘happy
sprouts’ or children who it happily posts on their web-site.

It sounds a good option for busy
parents with claims of 45% discount on the younger material and 60% for the
older material, but is the selection going to appeal to all and although the
volume appears logical do the parents that would commit to this service not be
the same parents who want to find their own material?

The terms sheet is an exercise itself but
one of the opening lines is somewhat confusing, ‘The Company provides a place
for purchasing and borrowing children’s educational and entertainment materials
delivered physically and electronically.’ Also we loved the catch all, ‘The
Company may, in its sole discretion, modify or update this Agreement from time
to time, and so you should review this page periodically.’

So what doe sit what to be when it
grows up? If the answer is another ‘FreeTime’ it is likely to loose on clarity,
width of offer and price.

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About Me

Before entering publishing I worked for many years as a Senior Executive in blue chip organisations in the retail, oil and automotive sectors. My publishing induction was initially as Director of Strategic Development at VISTA. There I was responsible for, and a contributor to, their highly acclaimed ‘Publishing in the 21st Century’ research series, the primary creator behind publishing services PubEasy and ‘batch.co.uk’, the initiator of the development of new Front Office systems to support publishers. In 2006 I joined Value Chain International(VCIL) initially as VP Marketing, Media and Publishing before becoming their President in 2009. In July 2011 the company's operations were acquired by Syncordia. I hold two non executive positions with publishing industry players Bibliophile Ltd and Haven Group and currently setting up Read Petite a service focused on providing digital short form material online via subscription.
Email mdaniels@opus57.co.uk